Two for the Price of One
by vuarapuung
Summary: Tracey arrives in Cerulean City and discovers that two sisters have a crush on him. Totally confused, he calls Professor Oak, who happens to be a bit of an expert when it comes to this sort of thing...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Game Freak and Nintendo. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

_Two for the Price of One_

_Part 1_

Tracey was increasingly aware that the errands Professor Oak sent him on seemed to be taking him away from the lab for longer and longer periods of time. Not that he was concerned by this, given how the Professor and a certain lonely housewife in Pallet had been going at it like Pikachus since Ash had gone to Sinnoh.

But sending him all the way to Cerulean for a special type of milk may have been pushing their luck just a little bit. He wasn't stupid after all.

Professor Oak had also suggested he stop off to see his friend Misty at the Gym. Then he'd had the nerve to wink.

Who knew what kind of ridiculous idea the old man had gotten into his head? Tracey and Misty? The idea seemed insane to the former as he cycled towards the home of the latter.

When he reached the Cerulean Gym with the milk resting in his (very manly) basket on the front of the bike he saw one of Misty's sisters, Violet, was guiding some very dejected looking trainers out the door. He waved to her, nearly falling off the bike in the process.

"Misty!" Violet called. "Your, like, totally cute friend is here!" Tracey felt his cheeks redden and actually did fall off the bike this time, though he did manage to right himself before Violet had turned around to see him again. Several of the trainers that had come out with her seemed a little more cheery.

Tracey was very surprised when not one, but two more of the Sensational Cerulean sisters came out to greet him. They bounced up in front of him and at the exact same time they asked how he was doing. Then they glared at each other.

"Oh come on Misty, you wouldn't know what to do with him," Daisy whispered to her sister.

"He's closer to _my_ age, Daisy," Misty hissed back. Tracey wondered briefly if they knew he could hear what was obviously an ongoing argument. It was lucky he could explain the flush on his cheeks as a side-effect of the long bike ride.

"Oh, I'm good, just a little flushed from the bike ride," Tracey replied quickly. "Professor Oak sent me to Cerulean for some milk, so here I am…" He paused for a second and they continued to look at him expectantly. "So how have you been-?"

Before he could choke out a name the two started talking at the same time, only to stop and glare at each other again.

Their argument was however stopped when another trainer came out of the Gym brandishing a Cascade Badge and taunting the trainers Violet had shown out earlier.

"Oh man, how did _you_ win?"

"After that crazy redhead just ran out of the building, the pretty pink-haired one said she'd battle me for the badge!"

Tracey knew that Misty couldn't have been outside for more than a minute. It was a wonder the three sisters had managed to run the Gym without her for so long.

"Cool! Let's go challenge her instead!"

Misty was suddenly torn between her friend and the reputation of the Gym she had worked so hard to restore being utterly ruined by her sister. In the end the Gym won out, and she dashed back into the Gym, pausing only to whisper something sinister to Daisy.

"So Tracey, like, let's go inside," Daisy said, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him into the Gym. He cast his eye over his shoulder to see the only trainer who had not re-entered the Gym making off with Professor Oak's milk.

Tracey sighed and allowed Daisy to lead him past the entrance to the pool where Misty fought her Gym battles (which was currently filled with the sound of Misty telling off one of her sisters) and into the kitchen in their living area. There she made a cup of tea using normal milk (instead of the fancy crap Professor Oak sent him halfway across the country to find). They sat there in awkward silence for a moment as Tracey sipped at his tea.

"So Daisy, what is going on?" Tracey asked.

"What do you, like, mean?" Daisy responded.

"You and Misty were arguing." He refrained from adding _about me_. "What's going on with you two?" For the first time in as long as Tracey had known her she seemed at a loss for words. Then she blew up.

"Like, just because her boyfriend ran off with some girl suddenly she's so interested in you when she never was before and I liked you first and she's just a spoilt little brat now that she runs the Gym and she thinks she's so much better than us and that she's so perfect it's like, oh, I'm perfect little Misty, look at me while I steal all the guys my sister likes just because my own boyfriend ran off with some girl in Sinnoh and would probably turn gay before he went out with a cow like me, you know?"

Tracey was not sure what he was supposed to know, so he just sat there with his mouth hanging open. Daisy took a moment to catch her breath then went on as if she'd never exploded like that.

"So, you, like, need a place to stay?" Daisy asked. "You could use the guest room and then, like, maybe later we could go out for dinner, together," she added almost in an undertone.

"Sure," Tracey croaked out, having never been in a situation quite like this before. For some reason all the girls had always been more interested in Ash…

Or Professor Oak.

"Should we maybe go see how the others are doing?" Tracey asked as the silence began to hurt his ears. Daisy looked extremely put out by this, but agreed.

The pair made their way back to where the trainers from earlier had just suffered their second beating to Misty, who was now celebrating by telling Lily off again. At the sight of Tracey and Daisy entering the room together she was across the room in the blink of an eye.

"Hi Daisy, thank you for keeping _my_ friend company," Misty said with a certain amount of false cheer.

"No problem," Daisy replied with equally false cheer. "Bitch."

Tracey was fairly certain that everything would have gone all the more smoothly had she not uttered that last word. He told Daisy this as Lily and Violet strapped up her wrist and he applied a bandage to Misty's knee. Before Daisy could respond Lily and Violet raised her to her feet and dragged her out of the room.

This left Tracey alone in the kitchen of the Cerulean City Gym with a girl who apparently was interested in him for the second time that day.

"So, you need a place to stay right?" Misty asked. "You can use the guest room here if you like." She smiled at him, but Tracey just nodded. "You want to do something later?"

"Sorry, I've got… plans."

"With who? You don't know anyone else in… oh." Misty's head dropped for a second, before the familiar fire returned to her. "Well, if you're going out with Daisy you have to go on a date with me as well!" Misty snapped at him.

"What?" Tracey fell backwards as Misty stood up, before remembering her knee was injured and dropped back into the seat.

"You can't choose one of us without giving the other a chance!"

Now Tracey had never been in this situation before, so he thought about what his friends might do. Ash would likely shrug, go along anyway, eat until he couldn't walk, then sponge the bill off on her and by that stage if either one of them was still interested they could be considered his soul mate. Brock would burst in and tell them that there was plenty of Brock to go around, which would likely result in two slaps and no dates.

Professor Oak would say pretty much the same thing as Brock, only in his case it would work. It had before. Tracey had met Ritchie just once, but he did look unbelievably like another trainer he knew.

But whether he approved of what Professor Oak got up to in his free time or not, he was still desperate for advice and the old Professor was somewhat of an expert on the way to a woman's heart. He wondered if the poetry had anything to do with it.

So he phoned him up and explained the situation. The old man was very amused.

"So, two beautiful sisters? I'm impressed," Professor Oak said over the video phone.

"This isn't funny, Professor," Tracey said exasperatedly. "I can't date two girls at once! Especially sisters."

"Well, my boy," Professor Oak said, rubbing his hand against his chin. "It seems to be that the best course of action would be to take each of these lovely young girls out to dinner and see which one you get along with best."

Professor Oak's suggestion sounded just fine, so Tracey decided to go along with it. That night he agreed to go out to dinner with Daisy to one of the fanciest restaurants in town. Of course beforehand he pointed out that they did not have a reservation and that a lab assistant's salary left a lot to be desired. Tracey almost felt his masculinity draining away as Daisy insisted she'd pay for it.

There was also the small matter of Tracey having nothing to wear. So Daisy asked Lily and Violet to take him shopping. With his masculinity having already taken a massive hit he felt he couldn't let them pay for the suit, but upon seeing the price tag he agreed to let the girls pay with money they said they'd nicked from Misty anyway.

He sincerely hoped they were joking.

So Tracey found himself standing in the entrance to the Cerulean City Gym dressed in a tuxedo waiting for his friend's sister to buy him dinner. He kind of wished that his mother was here to give him some advice before his very first date ever. Hell, he'd settle even for his father's advice. He could almost hear it already.

"_Son, you've been a huge disappointment and I truly never thought that you'd amount to anything. But this time you hit the jackpot. So don't screw it up!"_

"Thanks Dad," he muttered to himself.

"What was that?" Daisy said from behind him. He spun around.

"_Ker-ching!"_

Tracey wondered two things. The first one was whether or not his father's voice planned on following him around for the entire evening. The second thing he wondered concerned how on earth he'd managed to get a date with the gorgeous girl in front of him without really doing anything. She'd pulled out all the stops, dressing in a beautiful blue gown with her blonde hair straightened out to hang gracefully over her shoulders. And with the jewellery and make-up she made Tracey feel almost like a tramp in his tuxedo.

"Tracey, you're, like, drooling."

He flushed and wiped his sleeve across his mouth. Daisy giggled. He closed his mouth and took another look at her.

"You'd better snap back to reality soon because our reservation is for seven," Daisy said. Tracey shook his head and opened the front door for her. They walked out and Tracey waited for her to lead the way.

She gave a loud false cough and nodded to her arm. Tracey stood blankly for a moment, before it hit him. He stepped forward to link her arm with his.

"_Smooth. I reckon even that boy Ketchum would know better."_

Tracey was fairly certain that his father had never met Ash and so wondered how he knew him. Then he remembered that it wasn't actually his father talking, just the voice in his head.

"Let's go," Tracey said, eager to sit down before his legs turned to jelly. Daisy led the way, and Tracey was glad to discover that the restaurant in question was only a few minutes walk away. Tracey stopped to open the door (his brother had once told him that the way to a woman's heart was with little gestures like this. Then again his brother had also recently married someone named Bernard) and the couple approached the snooty looking waiter at the entrance.

"Ah, bonjour," the waiter said in a suspiciously fake sounding French accent.

"Yes, we have a reservation under the name Waterflower," Daisy said. The fake French guy looked from Daisy to Tracey with a hint of disbelief. But he grinned a set of dazzling white teeth.

"_He's going for your woman! Punch him in the face!"_

Tracey mentally shushed his father's voice and followed the fake French guy to a table. The waiter moved the chair out for Daisy and allowed her to sit down. Tracey sat down opposite her, painfully aware that he should have been the one pulling chairs out for Daisy.

If Daisy was upset about this then she certainly didn't show it.

"Anything to drink?" the waiter asked.

"Well, what would you recommend?" Daisy asked. "I tend to go for anything red."

"Ah, well we have a few bottles left of a particularly good red. It's a sixty-five, all the way from the Sinnoh region."

Tracey winced.

"Sounds good. Tracey?" He looked up to see that both the waiter and Daisy were staring at him. It was now that the age gap between him and Daisy was particularly evident. Sure she was only a few years old than him, but she was much more mature in that she dressed up so well, drank fancy wines...

"I'll have a glass of orange juice, please," he mumbled. The waiter grinned again and wrote it down.

"Of course, _sir_," he drawled. Tracey felt himself going red as the waiter walked off. Daisy watched him leave then turned back to Tracey and patted his arm.

"Don't worry, he's like that to all the dates I bring in here," Daisy assured him. "He used to come into the Gym and challenge us three times a day asking me or one of my sisters out." She smiled. "Then Misty took over and set Gyarados on him."

Tracey wasn't sure the notion of Daisy having brought other dates here was all that reassuring. In the end he settled for a crooked smile.

"So what's it like working for Professor Oak?" she asked.

"Well, it's great," Tracey replied. "It's a real honour, and the Professor knows so much about Pokémon. I'm learning loads of knew things everyday."

"Sounds pretty cool," Daisy said. Tracey felt it was his duty to inform her that it certainly wasn't cool shovelling Pokémon droppings and having to cycle to Viridian to buy something stupid just so the Professor could get him out of the house. But he refrained. He couldn't stand the notion of belittling himself in front of Daisy.

"Yeah, so what's it like being a famous model, actress and occasional Gym Leader?" Tracey asked.

"It's great and all, and I love doing all those things, but whenever I go out with a guy he just sits there staring at my chest and nodding along while I talk about myself. By the end of the date the only things I ever know about him is his name and how much saliva he can produce in one meal, and I've forgotten both by the next day."

Tracey unconsciously wiped his mouth with his sleeve again and sent his eyes back north of where they'd wandered.

"Sorry," he mustered. Daisy smiled.

"So come on, tell me a little bit more about the kind of Pokémon you look after," she said. 

He felt a little silly spending so much time talking about Pokémon. After spending half-an-hour of talking like Ash he stopped to ask Daisy a question.

"Just so I know, we are going to talk about you a little, right?" he asked. "Because I'm not sure how much longer I can talk about feeding a Snorlax."

"No, it's just you seemed so nervous," Daisy told him. "So I asked you about Pokémon because it seemed like something you were more comfortable with and it's something we both know a lot about." She must have recognised the expression on his face he was trying to suppress. "Well, it's something _you_ know a lot about."

Tracey was very relieved that he'd managed to get through the rest of the evening without embarrassing himself or punching the waiter. He was a little upset when the time came to pay seeing as he couldn't even afford the tip. However Daisy smiled at him.

"Don't worry, the service wasn't that good anyway," she assured him. "The waiter was looking at my chest even more than you were."

So Tracey found himself walking Daisy all the way up to her room with her having drunk an entire bottle of red wine by herself, though she seemed relatively unaffected by it. And it was still an opportunity many men would have killed for.

"Well, I had a great time," Daisy said.

She was looking at him expectantly, and part of Tracey thought that she expected him to kiss her. This was the particular part of Tracey that also happened to govern his father's voice. But he was determined to be a gentleman. So he settled for picking up her hand and kissing it.

"I did too." He wasn't sure whether she was pleased or not when she disappeared into her room.

"_You pansy, I knew you were gay all along."_

"Shut up Dad."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Game Freak and Nintendo. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

_Two for the Price of One_

_Part 2_

Breakfast the next morning was a little awkward. Judging by the way Lily and Violet were watching him Daisy had brought them up to speed. Misty however had no such luck, and was showing a strong desire not to talk about it. She completely ignored Daisy and coughed loudly every time she tried to speak. However Daisy had decided to take the high ground and not provoke another fight with her sister.

Tracey excused himself and ran to find the phone. He needed to find somebody – anybody – to talk to. He was about to ring Professor Oak when he thought better of it. The Professor had a tendency to answer the phone with his shirt off on the mornings Tracey wasn't there. So he phoned Gary instead.

He answered with his shirt off.

"Tracey?" Gary asked. "What's wrong? Did Gramps feed Viagra to the Tauros again?"

Tracey had voiced his opinion to Professor Oak on several occasions that those Tauros Ash had caught were a nuisance. But the Professor had flat out refused to get rid of them, and even insisted they were cute. He did, however, agree to sedate them every time they got out of hand. Pills got mixed up, the question of why the Professor had so much Viagra had come up, but at least Ash hadn't noticed the last time he visited that he had thirteen more Tauros than usual.

"No, I'm in the Cerulean City Gym," Tracey explained. "I just need someone to talk to. Actually, there might be something you can help me with." He explained the situation to Gary, who looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Misty... Misty," he repeated. "That scrawny guy Ash hung out with?"

"No, Misty's a girl," Tracey corrected. However Gary took it in his stride.

"Well, what do you think of these girls?" he asked.

"Well, they're both really nice and kind and all but..."

"Only one of them is _hot_," Gary finished. "Listen Tracey, my Grandpa once gave me a very traumatising piece of advice, but perhaps you can use it. _When your heart can't decide, simply follow your loins_."

"That's... not really helpful."

"I think it means pick the hot one," Gary explained. "Whoever you choose let me know. I might be able to give you a few tips." He wiggled his eyebrows. "I should go now. I'm supposed to be taking this kid to get his first Pokémon." The screen went black (though he thought he heard a sarcastic remark about how brilliant a Charmander was), and Tracey was suddenly confronted with the fact that he would have to spend the entire day in Misty's company. He had no idea how he was going to handle this.

When he returned to the kitchen Violet told him that Misty had just gone upstairs to get ready. Daisy and Lily were apparently getting ready to open up the Gym, so Violet sat Tracey down to have a man-to-woman chat.

"Yes?" Tracey asked.

"Now, what are your intentions towards my sister?" she demanded.

"Which-?"

"Don't be, like, stupid. Misty. It's obvious you don't want to go out with her to begin with. So how are you going to break it to her?"

"I'll send her an e-mail?"

Violet suddenly sat down on his nap. Tracey was about to protest when she grabbed his right nipple through his shirt and began twisting. He'd like to say that he took it like a man, but he screamed like a sissy.

"You can't treat my baby sister like that," Violet reprimanded him. "You're going to tell her today, and that's that."

"But-"

She twisted again.

"Okay, okay!" Tracey pleaded. "Just let me go."

"And, you're going to give my other sister an answer as well," Violet told him.

Tracey was about to object again when Misty came in. It must have looked very bad. Tracey had dated her sister the night before and now had another sister on his lap touching his nipples. This seemed like another opportunity for Misty's infamous temper to shine through.

Somehow it didn't. Violet slid off of Tracey, mumbled something and walked out. Misty stood for a moment, then grabbed Tracey's hand.

"Come on Tracey, we've got lots to do today," she said with a cheer that perhaps didn't suit her. She led him out of the Gym, making a special point of saying goodbye to Daisy, and towards the beach. There she sat him down on a park bench and landed beside him.

At least she was as clueless as he was.

"Misty look, there's something I need to tell you," Tracey began.

"There's something I need to tell you too," Misty interrupted. "I'll go first. You see, for the last month or so I've started to really miss you."

"_Hey, where'd the blonde go?"_

Apparently the voice of his father in his head had woken up.

"And that's when I started to realise..." She paused to draw in a breath. "I love you." To this Tracey wasn't sure what to say.

She was staring at him.

Well, what was he supposed to do?

Even his father's voice appeared to have run out of ideas.

"I love you too."

He wasn't sure why he'd said it, and he was certain he hadn't meant it, but somehow her looking at him so expectantly had made him say it.

And he was doomed. Daisy would hate him and Violet would force him into marrying Misty. Gary would give the toast at the reception and he'd tell everyone how pleased he was that Tracey had found his perfect man. And Ash would be so distraught he'd fail to notice his mother sneaking out after a man in a white lab coat.

"I can't believe it," Misty said. She smiled but the joy didn't reach her eyes. "This is great. I wasn't sure if you liked me." She jumped forward and pressed her lips against his. From the shock of it all he did nothing at first, but then tried to push her gently back.

"Listen, let's not tell anyone about this for a while," Tracey said. Misty looked confused.

"Why not?"

"Because I have something I need to do first."

"HELP ME!"

"Don't worry, this is fixable."

"Really?"

"No. You're boned."

Tracey was very glad to be back in Pallet Town, where Gary and Professor Oak had been waiting for him. He'd given the sisters a half-baked excuse about how Professor Oak needed him back at the lab immediately. He had a feeling that none of them believed him. For one thing Violet was glaring at him.

Neither the Professor nor Gary could fathom how he'd managed to shaft himself so thoroughly, but they were eager to help him out. He liked to think this had something to do with their friendship with him and not the fact that Misty still had two perfectly eligible, attractive, young sisters.

"There's only one thing for it," Gary told him. "You've got to go back to Cerulean, apologise to Misty and say you lied to her, you might want to wear a helmet for that, and then you've got to tell Daisy."

"Can't I just e-mail them?" Tracey asked.

"Goodness no," Professor Oak replied. "Why don't you grow a pair?"

It was amazing how much Professor Oak sounded like Tracey's father at that moment.

"Hey, don't worry, I'll go with you," Gary said. "I'll distract the other two sisters or something. You'll be alright on your own, right Gramps?"

"Oh, I daresay I'll manage," Professor Oak replied with that twinkle in his eyes.

So Tracey found himself cycling back to Cerulean City. He hadn't told the girls he was coming, so Violet was quite surprised to see him and Gary coming.

Gary kept up his end of the bargain. Before Violet could tell Tracey off, he had grabbed her and tossed her over the handlebars of his bike, before cycling off into the sunset. The trainers Violet had apparently been showing out of the Gym watched on in shook. Tracey recognised one of them as the punk who stole his milk, but he ignored it.

When he got inside he ran into Lily.

"Where's Misty?" he asked.

"Cleaning up in the Gym," Lily replied. "Why?"

But Tracey had no time. He'd made the last leg of the journey on pure adrenaline that he was relying on to carry him through this. He burst into the Gym where Misty was congratulating her Starmie.

"_Now or never, son. But just so you know, if you die, I always loved you... Even if you were nothing more than a constant disappointment."_

"Thanks Dad," Tracey muttered. He dashed over to Misty, who took his running to be a sign of affection and ran over to him, before trying to kiss him.

"Misty, wait," Tracey stopped her. "There's something I need to tell you. You should sit down while I make sure you don't have any mallets or anything else you might kill me with."

Misty reacted as if it were just a joke that wasn't really that amusing and sat down on a bench beside the pool, apparently unconcerned. Tracey sat beside her.

"Look, Misty. It's about the other day. You remember when I said I loved you? Well... I don't. As a matter of fact, I've kind of fallen for your sister."

That sounded so much better in his head.

"Oh," Misty replied. Her gaze fell down towards her own feet.

"I'm really sorry," Tracey tried to explain. "You see, when you said you loved me I didn't know what to do. I panicked I guess, and I just didn't want to hurt your feelings. I suppose all it served to do was make it even worse."

"No," Misty said in a voice barely above a whisper. "I just thought you wouldn't... but I guess I should be used to guys running off in the other direction the moment I get close to them."

"Misty, if this is about Ash-,"

"It's _never_ about Ash," Misty snapped back, her head whipping up to glare at Tracey. Her tears splattered across his shirt.

"Look, one day he'll come to his senses and realise what's been in front of him for so long."

"Shut up," Misty sobbed. "Just shut up! You came here and said you didn't want to hurt my feelings but now you're just trying to hurt me by bringing that bastard into it. I hate him. And I hate you!"

"You don't mean-."

"I HATE YOU!"

Tracey did the only thing he could think of. He grabbed her and pulled her into a hug, holding her head gently against his shoulder while she sobbed. For a while the two just sat in the embrace. Then Misty's head rose slightly.

"I don't hate you," Misty whispered. "I guess I just don't know what I want at the moment. I thought I was in love with you." She gave a sad laugh. "But I guess with three beautiful sisters to compete with I was never going to get the guy."

"Hey, one day..."

"Yeah, yeah. So everyone keeps telling me." She smiled. "Lily actually told me again right before you arrived."

"Misty, do you mind if I go talk to your sister now?"

"Yeah, go ahead. But if you see Lily or Violet on your way let them know I could do with a strong cup of tea."

Lily was waiting outside so see if it was safe to go in. Tracey nodded on the way out and she dashed in to find her sister. So all he had to do now was find Daisy. He stumbled through the Gym to the rooms at the other side. He came before what he thought was Daisy's door and knocked.

And Gary answered with his shirt off.

"This is Violet's room, you want the next one," Gary explained. Tracey didn't want to ask, though he probably already knew. So he just walked down to the next door. He knocked.

No one answered.

He knocked again.

Nothing.

So he did the only thing that made sense. He threw open the door and charged into the room.

"Tracey?" Daisy cried, leaping up off her bed and pulling a pair of headphones off her head. For a moment Tracey just stood and looked at her. He'd meant to tell her all about Misty; about how he'd lied to her and she'd probably never speak to him again. But he didn't need to concern her with small matters like that.

"I was, er, wondering," Tracey began. He then realised he had no idea what he was wondering. So he tried to be spontaneous and romantic. He stood forward and wrapped his arms around her. Somewhere in the middle their lips met.

Daisy pulled back long enough to whisper, "You're quite good at that."

"Not my first time," Tracey replied. He silently prayed that he'd never have to tell her how his first kiss had been a few days ago with her sister. But he cast such thoughts out of his head. Now was about Daisy, and he could worry about Misty and the groaning from the next room another time.

THE END


End file.
